Mayor and council system

Mayor and council system, municipal government in which a locally elected council is headed by a mayor, either popularly elected or elected by the council from among its members. In strict usage, the term is applied only to two types of local governmental structure in the United States. In the weak-mayor and council form, the mayor is merely council chairman and has largely only ceremonial and parliamentary functions. In the strong-mayor and council form, the mayor acts as real chief executive of the city or town, with the prerogative to veto actions of the council.

Learn More in these related articles:

...areas. At the beginning of the 21st century there were some 20,000 municipal governments in the United States. They are more diverse in structure than state governments. There are three basic types: mayor-council, commission, and council-manager governments. The mayor-council form, which is used in Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Chicago, and thousands of smaller cities, consists of an...

Mayor-council governments are found in two basic forms, the “weak” mayor and the “strong” mayor. The former was typical of the 19th-century municipal organization and is now mainly confined to smaller cities; the latter is a common arrangement in cities with significantly larger populations. In weak-mayor–council governments, a number of officials, elected or...

Britannica Web sites

oldest, most common form of municipal government with mayor executive to whom department heads (fire, police, etc.) are responsible; serves 2-4 years; single-chamber council enacts laws, confirms or rejects mayor’s appointments, may override his or her veto by 23 or 34 majority; members (councilmen or aldermen) elected by ward, at large, or in combination for 1-4 years